Walt, I use the same CAD software as Duacti, no CAD software can fix that bike. The CAD only do what you tell it to do. The man behind the CAD software, or even the man behind the man behind the CAD software need to know what is wrong. Basically I think they have no idea. The only thing they do know:1) We have/ had 3 great riders on that bike. All 3 are WC.2) Only one of them did manage to push the bike in order to win.3) We didn't listen to him and many others. 4) We have no idea how long 80sec map from Yamaha scalar field to Ducati scalar field.5) In addition to (1) we had Melandri and Capi on that bike. We didn't listen to them as well.6) What do Stoner knows that we do not know? Did we tape his tech talk???

Looks like Rossi and company should go back to the 2007 bike and build from there. The bike has not improved much since then. Could be a good race, but I have a feeling Simo is going to take a few riders out in turn 11. Just hope it is not Spies!

Contd from previous page.... - has just moved on too much. At the start of the season he was regularly up racing with Dovi on the HRC. The difference is that Stoner, Lorenzo and Pedrosa are too good to beat on aything but equal machinery. He will battle up through the field as usual tomorrow but I can't see anything much inside the top 10.

What I would say is that this season is showing just how quick Pedrosa was last year. I think the last few races have shown that the HRC and the yamaha are much the same pace this season. Honda have taken a big step forward this season while yamaha are going back to some stuff they used in '10. For Dani to have pushed Lorenzo for the championship last year shows just how quick the wee glass man is.

Given how much further back he is on the GP11.1 than he was on the GP11 I'd say it clearly is a valid argument.

Or were all the other riders sandbagging while he was on the GP11 so we could all get a good laugh when he went onto the GP11.1? Or maybe he's just not liked the tracks he has ridden the GP11.1? (Enter other crazy idea here)

I am arguing the behind closed doors testing argument. Which is not valid because they tested this chassis behind closed doors for 4000km already. The GP11.1 is a dog which Rossi should ditch. But the problem with that is that the GP11.1 is a destroked GP12, so it is a loss-loss situation.

I think the real barometer will be Laguna when Nicky gets to ride his GP11.1. So far Nicky has ridden more updates and bike variations then any Ducati rider and his results are stll fairly consistent. If he is in front of Rossi on the GP11.1 it would be apparent where the problem lies...Nicky should lose nearly a second from his last year time if the bike is the problem.

I do not profess to know the average testing mileage for a GP machine but do the factories not usually have the test riders running pretty much non-stop leading to them clocking up more than 4000km? Coupled to the natural progression of all the bikes over the season I still feel introducing a new bike partway through the season (ie the closed door argument) is valid.

Aside from the factory test rider mileage, rossi and Hayden tested the bike this year at Mugello, Rossi twice. This was part of the decision to switch to this bike for the rest of the season. The only difference is the engine was destroked to fit into the current rules. They clearly hoped that this would give better results at their home race since they had a lot of track time for Rossi to get a base setup. That didn't work out and for some reason all of the praise Vale gave to the bike after testing has resulted in a less competitive machine.

All of the factory Honda 800's went faster than the Ducati 1000's at Mugello so they have a lot of work to do if the goal is to be competitive next year.

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